The Reason Why
by Principi Phantasia
Summary: There's a reason behind every action and every word.


**Author's Note: **This was written for the Hogwarts Online Make-up Challenge. Inspired by My Sister's Keeper.

**The Reason Why**

"Off you go, you sexy pixie," Draco Malfoy slapped her behind.

The blonde-haired Slytherin girl rushed off to her dormitory, whipping her head back to give Draco a wink and a flirtatious giggle. Draco chuckled in response.

"Is that a wand in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" Blaise strolled into the common room casually.

Draco straightened up immediately, and shot him a dirty look before turning away awkwardly.

Blaise threw himself onto one of the plush green couches and averted his eyes to his best guy friend.

"What are you doing, Draco?" he asked seriously.

"What do you mean?" the blonde Slytherin turned back towards his friend, his situation already under control, playing dumb.

"Are you trying to mess things up with Hermione?" Blaise prompted.

"I've always been a player," Draco shrugged, not even bothering to deny it.

"No. You've changed. Since Hermione."

"Maybe I got tired of playing the loyal boyfriend," Draco responded, still seemingly indifferent

Blaise shook his head and laughed humorlessly.

"You've got the best girlfriend anyone could ever ask for and _you know_ it. So I'm asking you, what is going on?" he phrased the last sentence slowly, word for word.

Draco ran his long fingers through his pale, pale hair and dropped himself next to Blaise on the couch.

"Nothing," he exhaled lengthily.

"Doesn't sound like nothing," Blaise pointed out. "And doesn't _seem_ like nothing," he implied.

"Fine. Something _is_ going on. And I need your help – your advice, precisely – on the matter."

"I'm listening."

Draco smirked, knowing he could always count on Blaise. But that smirk disappeared at the thought of the issue he was about to introduce to Blaise.

oOo

"So, what do you think?" Draco exhaled, after finishing his story.

"Well, there's never an easy way to tell someone bad news. You either tell them or wait for them to find out some other way and hope they don't hate you for not telling them sooner."

"But that's not the point! I don't want her to know!" Draco exclaimed.

"Why?" Blaise asked.

"You're seriously asking that?" Draco eyed him skeptically.

"Well, okay. I get why you wouldn't want her to know," Blaise admitted.

"Good."

"So, now what?"

"That's what I'm asking you! Merlin, Blaise, you could be so useless," Draco sighed frustratedly.

"Hey!" Blaise cried, feigning offense.

"The biggest problem is her reaction," Draco continued after a pause. "No matter what I choose to do, it's going to be bad."

"Bad for who?" Blaise guided.

"Bad for either her or me," Draco answered.

"Well, you're going to have to choose who to sacrifice."

Draco glared at him.

"Okay, it's obvious," Blaise stated.

"She's going to be upset either way. How I wish there were a guidebook on how to deal with women," Draco muttered.

"Yeah, it would come to much use for you," Blaise chuckled. "However, Draco, mate," he slapped Draco on the back, "there are no trails through a woman's heart."

"I don't need a trail through their hearts, just their brains!"

Blaise laughed at his friend's antics, "That's the problem. They think with their hearts."

* * *

It was a typical windy day in mid-autumn and the students of Hogwarts were strolling casually towards Hogsmeade in small groups.

Hermione walked alongside Draco, chattering excitedly about something. Her best friends Harry and Ron were nowhere to be seen. They might have already learnt to accept her and Draco's relationship, but they still refused to spend time with him unless really necessary.

Draco was very unlike himself; he was quiet and reserved, and the spring in his step that he had adopted whenever walking with Hermione wasn't present.

It seems Hermione noticed his difference in attitude, so after getting them some sweets at Honeydukes, she maneuvered their way through the grey-stoned alleys and rounded several corners before leading them to a deserted dead end.

Draco's eyes were wide with curiosity and amazement, wondering how on earth _Hermione_ could navigate her way through these streets so well. He figured she'd probably read about it somewhere.

"What's the matter, Draco? You're awfully quiet today. Is something bothering you?" she abruptly stopped the conversation and started questioning him.

Draco opened his mouth, about to deny it, but then rethought this and instead replied, "Actually, yes.

"There's something I need to talk to you about."

"Well, what is it?" Hermione stared at him expectantly.

Draco hesitated. "I don't know how to address this matter," he admitted.

"You know you can tell me anything," Hermione nodded encouragingly.

Draco couldn't help but give her a small smile in response.

He took a deep breath and looked Hermione in the eye. "Hermione, this isn't working out."

This was nothing like what Hermione expected to hear, and at first she was puzzled, "What do you mean?"

"This – us – is not working."

Her eyes widened in shock and she asked disbelievingly, "You're breaking up with me?"

Realization dawned in on her, and as she spoke her voice shook, "But… but why? You said…"

"I know I told you that I would never leave you," Draco interrupted her in the middle of her stuttered speech, "and it breaks my heart, but I realized that I can't do this anymore, Hermione. So I'm taking my heart and leaving the pieces on the floor. Despite the memories, I can't do this anymore," he repeated.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked dumbly.

"This is not me, this is not who I am. I can't be bound in a relationship."

Hermione regained her composure, and her shock was replaced by anger. "I can't believe how selfish you are. So this is it? After all we've been through?" she said in a calm but menacing tone.

"I understand that break-ups are hard, Hermione…"

She didn't let him finish his sentence, "Go ahead, finish it. After all, it's always about you."

Draco's eyes blazed for a second but then they turned brooding, and then with a mere nod and an "Alright then, goodbye, Hermione," he turned and walked away, without even sparing a glance back.

* * *

She was sitting in the middle of a clearing – _their _clearing – in the Forbidden Forest, adorning a wreath of crown with wild flowers. It was Valentine's Day, and she desperately needed to escape the castle filled with students expressing their love to one another. She knew Harry and Ron would be worried about her, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Going back inside the castle would be classified as masochism.

She was examining an odd pattern the size of a rabbit hole on a nearby tree bark, when suddenly a familiar owl appeared out of nowhere, and dropped a scroll of letter into her unexpecting hands.

She started, and then slowly began to unroll the scroll and read the letter.

_ Dear Hermione,_

_ I swore to myself I would never do this, but I couldn't help myself. I know it sucks that I keep breaking promises, but…_

_ I miss you._

_ How have you been?_

_ Since _that _day, we've lost any sort of contact. You wouldn't even look at me. You turned back into the __ice queen__ you were before we got to know each other._

_ I know you hate me for what I did. But I have my reasons. And it's better if you don't know. It's for your own good, I _swear_. I get nothing but a broken heart out of this._

_ I just thought you should know the truth; I didn't break-up with you because I wanted to, but because I had to._

_ I don't expect you to understand, though._

_ You can go on hating me if you want to. I'd rather be hated by you than doom you to a life of eternal misery with me._

_Regards,_

_Draco_

_P.S.-I love you__. Always have, always will._

Hermione shook her head in disbelief. "That idiot…" she was beyond words. "What use is this letter? He didn't explain anything! This letter is just sweet talk, just like everything else he's ever said to me which I stupidly bought!

"I'm such an idiot for ever even caring about him. Look where it's gotten me!

"But he was so…" she trailed off, and sighed.

"I was so what?" Draco stepped out from between two pine trees.

Hermione gasped in shock and whipped around, eyes wide.

Then just as quickly, she narrowed her eyes into slits and asked suspiciously, "How did you find me here?"

"I followed my owl."

Hermione relaxed slightly, but tensed again almost right away.

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to talk to you."

"There's plenty of opportunity for that at school."

"Actually, no. Po—Harry and Ron are just right about ready to kill me if I as much as glance your way.

Hermione snorted in amusement to the dark humor.

"So what did you want to talk about? Better get it over with quickly," she snapped.

Draco hesitated, studying her, "Why can't we at least be friends, Hermione? Just because it didn't work out between us, doesn't mean we have to hate each other!" he said softly.

Hermione stared him in the eye for a minute before replying. "Well, I don't know if you hate me, but I don't hate you," she said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"You don't?" Draco asked, puzzled.

"Nope," she shook her head.

"Then why are you acting as if we're enemies?"

Hermione sighed. "Because, Draco, when ex-es stay friends, it can only mean one of two things," she said, as if explaining an extremely complicated matter to a five-year-old. "Either they never loved each other, or they're still in love with each other."

Draco processed piece of information quietly for a moment, then stated, "I still don't see why we can't be friends."

Hermione's cold demeanor returned, "It may all be just a game for you, but I actually loved you!" Angry tears sprang up in her eyes, and she fiercely blinked them back.

"And you think I don't?" Draco raised his voice.

Hermione was silent. She had assumed wrong.

"Didn't you read my post scriptum?" Draco had resumed the usage of his soft tone.

Hermione didn't reply.

"Don't you trust me anymore?" Draco asked quietly.

"It's hard to trust someone the second time around after they already gave you reason not to trust them."

Draco sighed; he had no answer to that. If only she knew his situation. But she couldn't. For her own sake.

"You know, there's a saying, that you shouldn't regret what once made you smile," Draco side-glanced at her.

She took a deep breath, "Since we met, there's no moment I regret."

"Really? Since we met?" Draco asked in surprise.

"Yeah, really. Everything that ever happened between us contributes to our relationship.

"However, I won't go making the same mistakes twice!"

Draco didn't know whether she was talking about her trusting him, her being in a relationship with him, or both.

He stared at her intensely, "But I miss you, so much."

"Don't you miss me? Not even a little bit?" he wondered.

"Of course, I miss you. But that doesn't mean the world stops spinning. Life goes on, and so do I."

Draco sighed, "Alright then. I won't bother you anymore." He turned to leave.

"Wait! You're going to leave me just like that? Again? Won't you even fight for me?"

Draco turned back around, eyes tired. "My coming here was mistake, Hermione. I should've left you alone."

"Make up your mind, already!" she fumed. "What do you want?"

Draco hesitated. "I want you to find someone else. Someone better than me. Someone who can do with you all the fun things we do and make it a thousand times more fun. Someone who can make you happy," he said sincerely, his voice breaking. He turned to leave once again.

"All the fun things we do wouldn't be as fun if it wasn't for you," she called out.

Draco stopped in his tracks, spun around, and strode over to her. He grabbed her shoulders and made her look him in the eye.

"Hermione, I have narcolepsy," he said to her, watching her carefully for any reactions.

Hermione's eyes widened knowingly. "Why didn't you tell me?" she whispered.

"It's _extremely_ embarrassing. And added by the fact that the Mediwizards have deemed it incurable, I know I'm going to trouble you every single day if you stay with me. It would hold you back, and I wouldn't want to do that to someone as independent, as wonderful as you," his voice was strained.

"Who said I was going to stay?"

If it was possible for him to feel any worse, Draco did.

"Of course I'm going to stay, you dimwit!" She searched his face, "You don't have to go through all this alone," she whispered. "You won't hold me back. We'll find the cure together; I know we're capable of that!" She shook him.

"I would never leave you alone."

Draco's breath hitched. But then he collected himself and began to rant, "See, I knew exactly this kind of thing was going to happen, you…"

"Draco," she cut him mid-sentence. "Look at me!" And he did.

"I speak too much. I panic too easily and about the simplest things. I am such a prude; and the list goes on and on! I could hold you back, too! But you don't love someone because they're flawless and would bring you no trouble. You love them _in spite_ of their weaknesses! And when you love someone, you're there for them. You stick with them. Then, together, you overcome the problems you face.

"And _I_ love _you_."

Draco never expected the day to come when he'd change his mind about his situation, but Hermione always managed to accomplish the impossible. She changed his mind. And he had to admit, he felt relieved for that. As if, as long as she was beside him, he could face _anything_.

"I love you, too."

And then she kissed him with such deep passion that it knocked the wind out of him.

There was no rain, but as they kissed, a rainbow miraculously appeared in the sky above them.


End file.
